AUSTIN, Texas — The Texas Senate has given its initial stamp of approval to a bill that would require preborn babies killed at abortion facilities to be buried or cremated instead of being discarded as medical waste.

The move comes just months after a federal judge appointed to the bench by then-President George W. Bush ruled that such requirements place an “undue burden on a woman’s right to seek a previability abortion.”

S.B. 258, introduced by Sen. Don Huffines, R-Dallas, passed 22-9 on Wednesday, but must be subject to another vote before it heads to the House for consideration.

“The Department [of State Health Services] shall develop and maintain a form for a pregnant woman to select the method of disposition of the unborn child’s remains. The form must include burial and cremation as methods of disposition of the unborn child’s remains [and] a statement that if the pregnant woman selects burial or cremation of the unborn child’s remains, the pregnant woman may be responsible for the burial or cremation costs,” the bill reads in part.

It also calls for the creation of a registry of non-profit organizations willing to provide financial assistance to mothers who are indigent and unable to pay for the burial of their child.

Abortion facilities that fail to follow the rules would be fined $1,000 for each day of non-compliance.

Huffines said that the bill is necessary as he believes that unborn children should be treated with dignity and not medical waste.

“We’re not going to treat it like we do a cancer, like a tumor, like a diseased organ,” he stated. “We are going to treat the unborn with dignity and respect.”

Rep. Byron Cook, R-Corsicana, has proposed a similar bill in the House, but it has not advanced in part due to concerns from those who believe abortion should be outlawed altogether rather than regulated.

“When those on death row convicted of a most heinous crime are executed, we bury them,” he said during a committee hearing. “We don’t put them down a garbage disposal or in a landfill. Even veterinary clinics have more human and dignified methods for placement of deceased animals.”

“I just feel like this bill is imposing your religious beliefs on other people,” said Sen. Sylvia Garcia, D-Houston.

“It is clear that a part of what this bill is intended to do is put a burden on the women who are choosing a legal medical procedure and it’s an effort to shame and treat them differently if they are having an abortion,” also remarked Sen. Kirk Watson, D-Austin.

As previously reported, in Texas, abortion facilities customarily contract with third party medical waste companies to dispose of the aborted babies, which are usually classified as “pathological waste.” The containers of aborted babies, mixed in with boxes of bodily fluids, tissues and other items that are not permitted to be thrown in the trash, are then transported to an incineration plant where they are burned into ash and then dumped into landfills.

However, current Texas law also allows for other types of disposal, including “grinding and discharging to a sanitary sewer system,” “chlorine disinfection/maceration followed by deposition in a sanitary landfill” or other “approved alternate treatment process, provided that the process renders the item as unrecognizable, followed by deposition in a sanitary landfill.”

In December, the Department of State Health Services finalized a rule at the request of Gov. Greg Abbott that would similarly require the burial or cremation of aborted children.

As previously reported, the medical waste company Stericycle was fined $42,000 in 2011 for autoclaving fetal remains from Whole Woman’s Health with household and commercial trash rather than incinerating them.

“It was explained that medical waste is placed in red biohazard bags, then placed into boxes provided by Stericycle. Each fetus resulting from an abortion is placed into a hard plastic container and then into a red biohazard bag. The bag is then placed into a freezer, where it is stored,” the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) investigative report read.

“When Stericycle arrives to transport the medical waste, the individual fetuses are removed from the freezer and placed into another large red biohazard bag. The red biohazard bag containing the fetuses is placed into the medical waste box along with other medical waste generated at the facility that requires treatment. According to facility representatives and the medical waste manifest reviewed, it appears that Stericycle picks up the waste once per week,” it outlined.

In January, U.S. District Judge Sam Sparks issued a preliminary injunction against the new Health Services rule requiring burial or cremation rather than incineration, stating that it “could severely limit abortion access in Texas,” but Attorney General Ken Paxton vowed to appeal.

“Texas has chosen to dignify the life of the unborn by requiring the humane disposition of fetal remains,” he said in a statement. “These rules would simply prevent health care facilities from disposing of the remains of the unborn in sewers or landfills.”

“Today’s ruling, however, reaffirms that the abortion lobby has grown so extreme that it will reject any and every regulation no matter how sensible,” Paxton lamented. “Indeed, no longer content with merely ending the life of the unborn, the radical left now objects to even the humane treatment of fetal remains.”

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Grace Kim Kwon

Yes, aborted children are fully human and need a proper burial. So sad people do not recognize the unborns as the same human beings even though Christians taught them. May our Lord avenge all the children and bring His justice upon the earth.

james blue

My body is a vehicle to carry my soul while I walk the earth. Upon my death my soul goes to sit with my savior no matter what happens to my body.

You are not saved unless you have repented of your sin and trusted in Jesus Christ as your Lord and Saviour. Read John 3 and Revelatio 20.

Royce E. Van Blaricome

The body of the Believer is the Temple of the Lord. If you wanna see whether your beliefs line up with God’s ya might wanna do a little reading about the Tabernacle.

james blue

Okay let’s run with you view. What that means is that the Texas lawmakers are attempting to force non Christians to to comply with Cristian religious beliefs and that would be unconstitutional.

The only involvement government should have in requirements in regards to disposal of human remains is issues of public health and safety.

Royce E. Van Blaricome

From Psychology Today: “Internet Trolls Are Narcissists, Psychopaths, and Sadists. An Internet troll is someone who comes into a discussion and posts comments designed to upset or disrupt the conversation. Often, in fact, it seems like there is no real purpose behind their comments except to upset everyone else involved. Trolls will lie, exaggerate, and offend to get a response.”

In Internet slang, a troll (/ˈtroʊl/, /ˈtrɒl/) is a person who sows discord on the Internet by starting arguments or upsetting people, by posting inflammatory,[1] extraneous, or off-topic messages in an online community (such as a newsgroup, forum, chat room, or blog) with the deliberate intent of provoking readers into an emotional response[2] or of otherwise disrupting normal on-topic discussion,[3] often for their own amusement.

james blue

I care not when immature people call me names.

Royce E. Van Blaricome

Better read it again or go back to school and learn to read because I never called you any names.

However, since you saw fit to falsely accuse me of doing so, which is lawlessness, I’ll refer you to the passage again that all Posers should meditate on.

james blue

Ooookay….. Well I’m an adult, so………….

Royce E. Van Blaricome

Ooookay…. so are all those others in the passage, so….

Combi

They seem also to forget that ‘fetus’ is Latin for ‘little one’ or ‘young child’. Taken in that context it’s not hard to see that abortion is wrong.

Grace Kim Kwon

Yes. In the Chinese sphere, fetus is called a “child in womb.” The unborn children are fully human, no doubt about it since human life starts at conception. Those who knowingly support abortion are immoral people who do not value human life.

Lexical Cannibal

So the Texas state government is pretending that it didn’t make complete fools of themselves trying to defend this in court? That’s a bold move, Cotton, let’s see if it pays off.

Amos Moses

seems the texas state government is treating those who do not think dead babies are humans as the fools they are ………….

james blue

This unnecessary rule is an imposition of religious beliefs by government. It should be rule unconstitutional in court. It has nothing to do with “human dignity” because it doesn’t apply to miscarriages.

There is no medical or public health reasoning for this proposed law. It’s just big government social conservatives imposing their religious beliefs.

Amos Moses

“This unnecessary rule is an imposition of religious beliefs by government.”

because it is to much to ask that a person be given the same rights as any derelict on the street …….. has nothing to do with “religion” …… has to do with treating people in a decent manner ………..

james blue

If it was a “right” the proposed law would apply to miscarriages, but it doesn’t.

It’s not a “right”, it’s a mandated imposition that everyone follow their religious views on human remains. The same is also true if it had zero to do with their faith and was just how they personally felt about remains.

If someone followed a faith that set laying a body out in the open so the sun God could take them as the way to deal with the dead it wouldn’t be allowed for public health reasons. And other than issuing a death certificate, which requires birth, public health is the only involvement government should have.

Amos Moses

“It’s not a “right”, it’s a mandated imposition that everyone follow their religious views on human remains.”

and your view seems to be it is garbage ……….. wow ….. how “enlightened” ………….

james blue

The proposed law certainly is.

Amos Moses

Nope ………

Neil Bragg

What does your type know about human dignity?

Jason Todd

Something tells me from the number of blocked users we have people talking about how mean and awful Texas is being for having the absolute audacity to think of the unborn as actual human beings.

What makes this all the more despicable, and I mean the idea of throwing dead babies in garbage cans, is that the Nazis buried and cremated the people they massacred.

Johndoe

Funny that you block everyone who disagrees with you.

Michael C

All the gay trolls from the hospice get so annoying.

Johndoe

Poor baby!!!

Lexical Cannibal

I mean, yeah, so long as by “buried and cremated” you mean “thrown into a ditch and set on fire,” though not necessarily in that order.

Pretending that the nazi’s had any kind of respect for their victims isn’t the strongest position to be arguing from. Dumping human corpses into a mass grave isn’t exactly comparable to scraping a blastocyst from a uterine lining.

Royce E. Van Blaricome

Everybody take note of the OP and those who “liked” his calling a baby “a blastocyst from a uterine lining”.

It’s good to see who not to cast your pearls in front of and the kind who’ll be tormented forever in the Lake of Fire.

Lexical Cannibal

Your theological threat sent on behalf of your ostensibly “merciful” and “loving” god has likewise been noted. Thank you for reaffirming my decision to leave.

Royce E. Van Blaricome

You’re welcome. Anytime I can give you the Truth, just let me know. No surprise that you’d run from it. God says it’s an offense to the Unbeliever who wants to continue to be their own god.

Thanks for admitting it and publicly displaying your reason for being here. Oh, and feel free to REALLY leave anytime.

Michael C

What is the problem that this new law has been created to solve?

How big does the government need to be and how much regulation is necessary?

Jason Todd

You mean it isn’t that obvious? You think dead babies are only worthy of garbage cans and landfills?

Michael C

Under current law, who is prevented from making decisions on how the remains of their babies will be handled?

What is the governmental purpose of this law?

Jason Todd

1) What is the point of your question?

2) Again, it’s not obvious?

Royce E. Van Blaricome

He never has a point to any question or statement he makes. He’s just a spiritually-dead troll with no life and gets his jollies by trolling Christian pages, harassing Christians, and acting like he’s some intellectual. He and Ambulance Chaser are two peas in a pod. This defines him pretty well:

From Psychology Today: “Internet Trolls Are Narcissists, Psychopaths, and Sadists. An Internet troll is someone who comes into a discussion and posts comments designed to upset or disrupt the conversation. Often, in fact, it seems like there is no real purpose behind their comments except to upset everyone else involved. Trolls will lie, exaggerate, and offend to get a response.”

In Internet slang, a troll (/ˈtroʊl/, /ˈtrɒl/) is a person who sows discord on the Internet by starting arguments or upsetting people, by posting inflammatory,[1] extraneous, or off-topic messages in an online community (such as a newsgroup, forum, chat room, or blog) with the deliberate intent of provoking readers into an emotional response[2] or of otherwise disrupting normal on-topic discussion,[3] often for their own amusement.

Unfortunately for him, he doesn’t realize he’s just heaping more and more damnation for him in the Lake of Fire.

Jason Todd

It seems Michael is also a coward; he demonstrates a tendency to run in the face of pertinent questions. In fact, I asked him straight if he doesn’t have a problem with throwing the bodies of dead babies into garbage cans and landfills, with a yes or no option. I do not expect him to respond.

Ambulance Chaser…what can I tell you, other than one of the best things I ever did was block that sicko?

Ambulance Chaser

I’m a sicko? On what grounds?

Michael C

The medical community is responsible to follow strict guidelines on the disposal of all pathological waste (this is the term used in Texas state law, don’t complain to me about their terminology).

Hospitals don’t “throw the bodies of dead babies into garbage cans and landfills” any more than amputated limbs or excised tumors are thrown into landfills.

Do I have a problem with the safe and sterile disposal of human tissue? No. I don’t.

Do I wish that nobody ever felt the need to have an abortion? Yes. I do.

Jason Todd

Love how you are being intellectually dishonest.

Abortion clinics are putting dead babies in garbage cans and landfills. There’s nothing to deny, because there are pictures that I know you have seen.

And that wasn’t the question that I asked. Why don’t you answer MY question instead of your own?

Of course, your willingness to change a question that is straightforward so you don’t look worse than a Nazi…only makes you look worse than a Nazi.

Are you claiming that clinics and hospitals are not following existing laws for pathological waste?

Jason Todd

Human beings are not pathological waste.

Michael C

You have a very short attention span and you didn’t answer the question.

Jason Todd

Sure I did. I said human beings are not pathological waste. You may not like that, but facts don’t care about your feelings.

Ambulance Chaser

For a guy who keeps accusing you of not answering questions…

Jason Todd

What do I have to do to be blocked by you?

Admit you are a deranged, soulless pervert. Should be easy enough.

Michael C

Admit you are a deranged, soulless pervert. Should be easy enough.

Are you saying that the people you’ve so far blocked (like Ambulance Chaser), you’ve done so because you feel that they’re “deranged, soulless perverts?”

Jason Todd

Nope. I did not say any of that. I have my reasons for blocking people, and quite frankly, it’s none of your business.

I said that about you because everything you have said points in that direction.

If you want me to block you, just admit this in a public forum. Simple as that.

Michael C

You asked, I answered. What more do you want?

It appears your comment has been changed. Originally you wrote;“Nope. I did not say any of that. I have my reasons for blocking people, and quite frankly, it’s none of your business.
I said that about you because everything you have said points in that direction.
If you want me to block you, just admit this in a public forum. Simple as that.”

Jason Todd

Yes. To something more pithy. And?

Ambulance Chaser

That definition doesn’t apply to ANYTHING Michael C or I have ever done. We challenge your assumptions and put you to your proofs, and disagree with much of what is posted here, but that’s not “trolling.”

Simply disagreeing with people and asking them to critically examine what they believe is not trolling.

Royce E. Van Blaricome

Wrong. Perhaps you need to read it again. In fact, read what you just wrote again and don’t miss the “challenge your assumptions and put you to your proofs”.

The definition of Internet Troll above fits you and Michael perfectly. THIS is a CHRISTIAN news site. We’re coming here to communicate as a Family on issues of the day. NOT to be challenged or engage in debate, Troll.

Justify your sickness however you like. Rather you’d be better off seeking the help you need.

Sharon_at_home

I think it was pulled in because the abortion facilities were selling the parts to others, with no consent from the parents.
It stops the selling of the babies parts by making the babies be treated with dignity instead of as garbage. I would have thought there could have just been a discussion with the facilities and some sort of compromise but it was about the money they made, so it had to be brought to a higher level. At least this is what I have read about the subject.

The whole abortion thing is, in my opinion partially about religion, but it is also about how Planned Parenthood for example did not discourage abortion, and instead it sounds like they made no effort to teach them alternatives to abortion but went straight to abortion. That would not be in the best interest of the mother. Or I guess for some of the mothers, depending on their personal view about it.

Even before I accepted Jesus in my life, I could never understand why anyone would want to abort but that is because I love children and I DO know the alternatives.

james blue

Except state investigation after state investigation, including the reddest of red states found that they were not selling baby parts.

That and this wouldn’t stop the legal harvesting of tissue for research.

james blue

Except state investigation after state investigation, including the reddest of red states found that they were not selling baby parts. That and this wouldn’t stop the legal harvesting of tissue for research.

Planned parenthood does offer adoption information, I posted a link to their website, but this site doesn’t allow links so it is now in eternal moderation limbo…

If you go to their website it’s under “pregnancy options” (“learn” tab– pregnancy — pregnancy options)

Sharon_at_home

Actually James, I just read another article that showed quite blatantly that much about PP was misinformation. I was coming to this site to write this. I have no problem saying I was wrong if I am. 🙂
I have found that most sites let you write it out but put the word dot instead of a period. (Google dot ca) That way it isn’t a “link” and all we have to do is change it after pasting it into our address bars.

james blue

I’m not for abortion, I’m also not for propaganda and lies, even if those lies are against something or someone I do not support. I will not knowingly bear false witness, even if it would be to my benefit to do so.

There are many problems in the world, they will never be fixed if we don’t separate truth from fiction. Alas these days “truth” is what we “feel” is right.

Have a blessed day.

Royce E. Van Blaricome

“Except state investigation after state investigation, including the reddest of red states found that they were not selling baby parts.” That’s a bold-faced lie. That’s for publicly displaying your modus operandi, your complete ignorance or, more likely, willfully attempt to deceive. PP has been caught red-handed doing so and Cecile Richards has even admitted they do so.

james blue

By all means cite the investigation where PP where prosecuted because the state found they broke the law.

Ambulance Chaser

I wouldn’t hold my breath.

Royce E. Van Blaricome

Why change your supposition? Oh, because you were proved wrong.

Matt. 7:6

From Psychology Today: “Internet Trolls Are Narcissists, Psychopaths, and Sadists. An Internet troll is someone who comes into a discussion and posts comments designed to upset or disrupt the conversation. Often, in fact, it seems like there is no real purpose behind their comments except to upset everyone else involved. Trolls will lie, exaggerate, and offend to get a response.”

In Internet slang, a troll (/ˈtroʊl/, /ˈtrɒl/) is a person who sows discord on the Internet by starting arguments or upsetting people, by posting inflammatory,[1] extraneous, or off-topic messages in an online community (such as a newsgroup, forum, chat room, or blog) with the deliberate intent of provoking readers into an emotional response[2] or of otherwise disrupting normal on-topic discussion,[3] often for their own amusement.

james blue

So you can’t cite where the state investigation found PP broke the law?

Royce E. Van Blaricome

Matt. 7:6 Oink Oink

Michael C

It stops the selling of the babies parts…

Actually, it doesn’t. This law doesn’t apply to fetal tissue that is “sent to a clinical, diagnostic, pathological, or biomedical research laboratory for medical testing” or “donated for research, provided the donation complies with the laws of this state.”

…by making the babies be treated with dignity instead of as garbage.”

Their issue and yours is not that fetal remains are treated without dignity. Your issue and theirs is that you believe that, because abortion is legal, fetuses are treated without dignity. Their issue and yours is that you’re upset that abortion is legal, not that aborted fetuses don’t get cemetery plots.

Because they cannot ban abortion outright, they’re trying to legislatively over-regulate this medical procedure out of existence.

Just be honest about it.

Jason Todd

Their issue and yours is not that fetal remains are treated without dignity.

They are not, regardless of the motivation behind the legislation.

Are you saying you do not have a problem with this practice? Yes or no.

they’re trying to legislatively over-regulate this medical procedure out of existence.

Abortion providers want no regulations. Which is why there was no attempt from those in the pro-abortion camp to distance themselves from Kermit Gosnell.

To put it simply: Abortion is, and always has been, a medical procedure that not only terminates a human life in utero, but also has been known to result in miscarriages, infertility, breast cancer and even death to the woman. The very fact this 100% elective procedure continues to be conducted in spite of this is indicative of the money involved, which includes the illegal harvesting and sale of body parts.

Abortion should be over regulated out of existence as murder should never be acceptable.

Ambulance Chaser

Cite, please, for any of those allegations.

Sharon_at_home

Did I say I was for or against abortion so you could decide what my issue is? I did not. My religion says it’s taking a life, but I think there are circumstances where abortion is necessary. What I do take issue with is that they are calling abortion a type of birth control and it’s NOT. Birth control is about not getting pregnant in the first place not an Ooops oh well, I’ll just get an abortion.
If a woman gets pregnant she should remember the life inside of her and not think of it as garbage that needs to be thrown out.
I also feel the parents should be told what will be done with the fetus and sign a consent form.
So no, you didn’t have any idea what my issue is.

Royce E. Van Blaricome

Of course he didn’t have any idea what your issue is. That’s not why he’s here. See my comment above. He’s here to get his jollies. Best not to feed the trolls.

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